The Garden Magazine, April, 1921 
121 
in flower take particular pains in marking the different kinds & 
the orchis roots (in the valley) in such manner as they can be 
transplanted according to growth & color.” And again he 
writes: “ I have great satisfaction in your information respecting 
the Illinois nut plant [pecan] & winter Haw. 1 am afraid to 
suppose that the Bald Cypress has stood it out, for it appear’d 
a year ago at its last gasp. The Aphernously pines [Pinus 
cembral should be particularly attended to. For another 
plant cannot be obtained in England. Those 1 sent come from 
the Alps. Altho hardy in respect to cold they may be injured 
by vermin, poultry, &c, &c.” 
E NOUGH has already been quoted to show why the col- 
lections of plants at The Woodlands soon became 
celebrated. They were in 1802 visited by the French 
botanist, Franfois Andre Michaux (1770-1855), who wrote: 
"the absence of Mr. W. Hamilton deprived me of the 
pleasure of seeing him; notwithstanding 1 went into his mag- 
nificent garden, situated upon the borders of the Schuylkill, 
about four miles from Philadelphia. His collection of exotics 
is immense, and remarkable, for plants from New Holland, 
all the trees and shrubs of the United States, at least those that 
would stand the winter at Philadelphia; in short, it would be 
impossible to find a more agreeable situation than the residence 
of Mr. W. Hamilton.” 
Frederick Pursh, author (1814) of “Flora Americae Septen- 
trionalis, or, a Systematic Arrangement and Description of the 
Plants of North America,” lived at The Woodlands from 
1802 to 1805. He writes: “Not far from the latter place 
(the botanic garden of Messrs. John and William Bartram) 
are also the extensive gardens of William Hamilton, Esq., 
called The Woodlands, which I found not only rich in plants 
from all parts of the world, but particularly so in rare and new 
American species. Philadelphia being a central situation, and 
extremely well calculated for the cultivation of plants from all 
the other parts of North America, 1 found this collection 
particularly valuable for furnishing me with a general knowledge 
of the plants of that country, preparatory to more extensive 
travels into the interiors for the discovery of new and unknown 
subjects. Mr. John Fyon (of whom 1 shall have an opportunity 
to speak hereafter), who had the management of these gardens, 
was then about to give them up: having the offer of being ap- 
pointed his successor, 1 embraced it, and accordingly in 1802 
I entered upon the situation. During my stay in this place, 
which was until 1805, 1 received and collected plants from all 
parts of North America; and when Michaux’s ‘Flora Boreali- 
Americana’ appeared, which was during that time, I was not 
only in possession of most of his plants but had then a con- 
siderable number not described by him.” In 1805 Pursh, under 
the patronage of Dr. Benjamin S. Barton, Professor of Botany 
in the University of Pennsylvania, set out on his ever memorable 
explorations. 
William Hamilton died at The Woodlands on June 5, 
1813, aged sixty-eight years, and was interred in the family 
burying-ground at Bush Hill. His nephew, also William 
Hamilton, succeeded to the estate, where he died on July 21, 
1821, aged fifty-five years. 
The account of the Hamilton estate by the writer of 1830, 
previously mentioned, brings us down to April 13, 1840, when 
the estate was sold to a number of citizens (incorporated as 
“The Woodlands Cemetery Company of Philadelphia”), and 
the beautiful demesne of the Hamiltons became one of the 
THE WILLIAM HAMILTON HOUSE AT WOODLANDS 
Antedating the Revolution, this charming old mansion, built by the hospitable Hamilton, wears its 
age with a dignity which makes the visitor regret that its doors no longer stand invitingly open 
